Kukla's Korner Hockey

In a story of how quickly the mighty can fall, the Ottawa Senators bought out the final year of Jonathan Cheechoo’s contract on Tuesday.

The move comes as no surprise.

It was inevitable, considering no other NHL team was willing to pick up the $3.5 million U.S. remaining on his deal earlier this week and last March, when the club placed him on waivers before shipping him to Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

Comments

Why wouldn’t someone take a chance on him? Having been bought out he’ll be willing to take a low salary if he wants to play in the NHL and he’ll likely work hard to prove he belongs in the NHL, again, if he wants to play in the NHL.

And if you sign him to a small contract, wouldn’t it be worth it for a lot of teams to give a shot on a guy who could be a decent second or third line player. The downside is you might end up putting him on waivers, which wouldn’t be huge because it wouldn’t be a $3.5M contract, and the upside is he conceivably COULD turn his career around and end up playing well.

There is no way his career is over…I wish the Wings could sign him like they did last year, with Patrick Eaves, another former Senator. This guy still could easily be a 20-25 goal scorer again, given the right combinations and work ethic…

His career isn’t over. Ever since his injury a few years ago, he hasn’t been the same player. He seemed to lose his scoring touch. Personally, I think he’s a great grinder. He works hard every shirt and digs in the corners really well.

I think he’s a good third-fourth liner and like Garth said, he won’t be anywhere near the 3.5 he’s been making. He’s a grinder that played with Joe Thornton, one of the best set-up men in the league, which is where his goals seemed to come from. Someone could easily sign this guy for a mill or less.